A cartoon depicts a man at a podium firing up a crowd. “Who wants change?” he shouts. You can almost hear the excitement and urgency. “we do!” the listeners cry, all raising their hands.

But the next frame features a follow-up question: “Who wants to change”?” The audience is silent and somber, with their hands down.

The gospel Jesus announced and lived out promises monumental change: life instead of eath, healing from sickness, hope to replace despair, peace and justice instead of war and oppression. Although God could wave His hand and make the world perfect, He chooses to work through humans. That means we must be willing to change too

Change can be scary, but God’s newness will so transform the world and us that we’ll never miss our old, broken reality.